Used structured snippets as part of an ad extension strategy in Google AdWords

Goals

Provide more information about Vodafone’s key USPs and wide breadth of products in digital advertising

Increase click-through rates from search ads

Results

8% increase in click-through rate for brand activity

100% increase in click-through rate for SIM-only activity

Doubled the click-through rate of device-specific activity

Vodafone is an avid user of ad extensions and was looking to further improve search ad performance. “We were utilising callout extensions, sitelinks, location extensions and review extensions, but we were looking for more ways to differentiate ourselves from competitors.” explains Elliot Saxton, Account Manager for Vodafone at MEC UK. “We started using structured snippets in AdWords with the aim of providing consumers more information about key USPs and the wide breadth of products that Vodafone offers, as well as increasing click-through rate.”

Structured snippets are a type of ad extension that allow advertisers to highlight specific aspects of their brand’s products and services before visitors click through to their site. Elliot describes implementation as straightforward. “The account level option made it quick and easy. We started by testing brand terms at account level across all devices, highlighting the brands we sold, as well as the types of products, including pay as you go, pay monthly, SIM-only, mobile broadband and accessories. We then expanded this out to handset-focused activity on Apple and Samsung devices, highlighting the available colours. We’ve since rolled out this approach to the majority of Vodafone activity.”

In terms of measurement, the team focused on click-through and conversion rates, monitoring uplift before and after implementation. Core brand terms saw an 8% growth in click-through rate, along with a 1.3% increase in conversion rate, while SIM-only activity produced a click-through rate increase of 100%. In addition, the click-through rate of device-specific activity doubled.

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“Structured snippets have improved ad relevance,” Elliot says of the results. “They also allowed us to easily advertise our product colour sets, something that wasn’t really feasible before. Structured snippets are now part of business-as-usual activity and are considered before all campaign launches.”

As Search Lead at Vodafone UK, Christopher Pearce is enthusiastic about structured snippets. “They allow us to add an additional layer of detail into our ads that we had struggled to include previously. We’ve been able to maintain our core message within our text ads and pull through additional product features, styles and types as secondary information. Using this extension for several different product types within our portfolio – including mobile, SIM and mobile broadband – we saw an increase in click-through rate of up to 100% across those campaigns.”

Vodafone is one of many advertisers seeing success with ad extensions. On average, utilising ad extensions on search ads produces a click-through rate uplift of 10 to 15% for each new extension added. With Ad Rank taking into account the estimated impact of ad extensions, they are increasingly becoming an important aspect of advertisers’ Search advertising strategy. For more information about implementing ad extensions, please review our best practices on the AdWords Help Centre.